Lady Black

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"Are you quite sure you want to know this?"

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"There is something in the darkness. No, there is someone in the darkness."[1]

Lady Black is a mysterious and lonely spirit who roams the deepest waters of the Unterzee.

Shallowed Be Her Name[edit]

"I cannot remember how long it has been since I had a companion." Her voice quavers. Her arms reach out around you, far longer than they have any right to be.[2]

Lady Black is an apparent personification of death who rules over the Under-Unterzee.[3] Merely speaking her name is enough to send even the most seasoned zailors fleeing,[4] and individuals out in the depths of the zee without cover must beware of her wiles: after seven minutes, fear sets in; after fourteen, the visions start; after twenty-one, there is no return, as this beguiling spirit claims her victim.[5] She lures humans by granting them vivid, obsessive dreams[6] after encountering her.[7][8] As a consequence, they may be driven to seek her out, even to the point of madness.[9][10]

To her victims, Lady Black appears as a woman with blue lips,[11] wearing a black muslin gown.[12][13] Her presence is heralded by the sounds of church bells and choral music,[14] and her hair and garments drift as though underwater, regardless of her surroundings.[15] She is supernaturally charming,[16] and scrupulously faithful to any bargain struck with her;[17] those who break their word invite her wrath.[18]

Lady Black also possesses great power over the zee itself. She can create pockets of air;[19] command waves;[20] alter time, space,[21][22] and reality itself[23][24] within her domain; and even defy the authority of the Fathomking, her counterpart who presides over most deaths at zee.[25]

Lady Black is revered by a cult known as the House of the Keel, whose members sailed far from land, sank their ships willingly, and built cathedrals in the abyss to continue their worship of Her Ladyship.[26] There is a series of rituals,[27] which may have been used if not devised by this cult, that allows a person to live with Lady Black in her personal underwater dominion.[28] One of her most powerful strongholds is the Abyss of Graves,[29] a sunken graveyard[30] (but not a quiet one)[31] whose tombstones bear inscriptions of what she found most notable in her willing victims.[32]

Mereid[edit]

"So long as he dwelt with her beneath the waves, the city would stand above. But, the boy grew into a curious child and one day —"[33]

Once upon a time, Lady Black sought a city for her palace, and instead made a deal with the citizens of Mereid. In return for keeping the city afloat, Lady Black would take a newborn to raise as her own. As long as the boy remained with her, the city would be safe[34] - but when the boy left to see the world, the city submerged completely. For centuries he wandered the Neath, and eventually became known as the Confounded Traveler, unable to find his way home.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Reach out, Sunless Sea
  2. ↑ Reach out, Sunless Sea
  3. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "As for how – this is my domain. I am of the Below. All that falls here is under my jurisdiction. You fell, did you not?"
  4. ↑ Find ancient captains to speak to the Unsettled Salvager, Sunless Sea "[...] She picks her nails, and closes her eyes when at last she speaks: "I want to find Lady Black." The captains that can run, do. The rest shuffle away as swiftly as they're able. [...]"
  5. ↑ Refuse, Sunless Sea "It is dangerous to be too long underwater outside the protection of a zubmarine. After seven minutes, the fears sets in. After fourteen, the visions start. After twenty-one, there is no return."
  6. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "Silas you fool! It was her that came to me in dreams. It was her that made me set aside my wife and my child. It was her that steered my hand to the Incredulous."
  7. ↑ Give the Unsettled Salvager over to the care of the Manager, Sunless Sea "The Lady herself? What delicious dreams you must have, my poor heart. You are not the first. I know you will not be the last."
  8. ↑ An Adumbration of Her Heart, Sunless Sea "The account of a certain zubmarine crew's dreams, after their captain was allegedly taken by Lady Black"
  9. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "[...] the Captain was thrown overboard! [...] We nearly didn't find him in time, and when we did, he was mad, raving about [...] seeing her. The wraith of the deep. Lady Black. No, worse than just seeing her. Being compelled by her."
  10. ↑ Refuse, Sunless Sea "She is persistent in her request. She cannot let go of the vision she had of the Lady. A madness has taken her: the only way to keep her safe would be to bring her to London, and commit her to the care of the Royal Bethlehem."
  11. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "A chuckle escapes her blue lips, and all around her the Drownies begin to sway in rhythm, like zee weed being pulled by the current."
  12. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "[...] each footfall, trailing her muslin gown along the waves, she pulls the water down, whirlpools spinning in her wake."
  13. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "And in that peace, a woman's face swirls into the view. A lady, dressed all in black, and one you've come to know well."
  14. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "And then the music starts. Church bells and choral music? At this hour? How peculiar."
  15. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "[...] Lady Black floats above you, motionless except for the swirl of fabric and hair in the non-existent water. [...] Her eyes are very black. [...]"
  16. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "[...] Her familiarity is disarming. All at once it feels like you're talking to an old friend. A childhood friend. Someone you grew up with, bonded to, and no matter how many years pass without seeing them, it's like nothing has changed when you do. When her heart beats, you feel it echo in the adumbration of your own poor organ."
  17. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "[...] "You were never part of the deal. Your presence here is unexpected and perplexing." She shudders, a dark pulse visible beneath the grey skin of her assumed form. "I cannot extend an offer already made. Whatever my own heart desires." Her voice cuts on the spindle of her need."
  18. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "The deal was struck with Silas, for the removal of Old Fritz. For his part, the whale dead. For mine, his sibling returned. He implored me so sweetly. Promised he could only do it with the the two of you together." She pauses, her eyes widening till her pupils are twin abysses peering into your own. "He did not lie, did he?"
  19. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "Lady Black, shallowed be her name. She's the reason you're here. She's the one holding the zee in place, permitting you to breathe. Giving us a space to speak. [...]"
  20. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "I'd just come back aboard when a wave, huge and terrible, crashed over the side. In its wake, there you lay, as pale as a corpse. Indeed, I thought you were until you opened your eyes."
  21. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "A flash of light. No. A dimming of all the light around you except for a singularity. And there she is. Lady Black. She has always been here, waiting for this moment, waiting for the melody to make you aware."
  22. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "A second chance. And we're where we fell. Right in front of him. But with one crucial benefit," says Silas, grinning. "We've had time to ready the guns. Her Ladyship's last boon. We will not fail."
  23. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "You gasp as all the air is pulled from your body, or perhaps your body is pulled from the air. Everything that doesn't belong in this place just yet: The Doomed Diver, Silas and the crew, all of you are being sucked back onto the Incredulous. Pure agony gives over to darkness once more, and water propels you out of the Abyss of Graves. Free, and clear. Waterlogged lungs give rise to a breathless chorus of cheers."
  24. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "[...] you chance a glance around the bridge and see something that definitely wasn't there before. In one of the corners is a single diving suit and buoy – tools to ascend a person to the zee surface. [...]"She's left one of us with a means of escape.""
  25. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "The creature from my dreams. Even though I'd failed her, she found me and offered to break our terms with the King in Coral. All we need do is rid her of Old Fritz, once and for all."
  26. ↑ Ask about the House of the Keel for the Unsettled Salvager, Sunless Sea "THE HOUSE OF THE KEEL MADE EXILES OF THEMSELVES, [...] THEY BOARDED THEIR SHIPS AND TOOK TO THE ZEE. THEN, FAR FROM LAND, THEY TOOK AXES THEIR SHIPS, SANK THEM, AND FOLLOWED THEM - MAN, WOMAN, CHILD - INTO THE DEPTHS. IN ABYSSES THEY BUILT THEIR FATHOMLESS CHURCHES, AND RESUMED THEIR WORSHIP OF LADY BLACK, SPIRIT OF THE DEEPS."
  27. ↑ Abyssal Rites: Approaching Her Ladyship, Sunless Sea
  28. ↑ Enter her embrace, Sunless Sea "A playful current tugs at you. A familiar voice. You open your window, and allow the current to carry you to Lady Black's colonnaded palace. Perhaps today, her Ladyship will desire conversation, or a swim through her glowing gardens. Perhaps [...] she merely wants to sit at her watery hearth in companionable silence. What would she do without you?"
  29. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "You stand in what remains of the Abyss of Graves, one of my uttermost dominions [...]"
  30. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "[...] a pitch-black void greets you, bereft of even the False-Stars. [...] Mossy rock, mouldering soil, and coppery rust from crumbling metal fences. The only hint that you are not, in fact, in a real graveyard is the gentle bobbing underfoot, as if dark water rushes by somewhere just out of reach."
  31. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "You pass one of the mausoleums. For the briefest moment the sounds of a raucous party emanate from within. You stop in your tracks and turn back. Silence. Was it imagined, or did the party die away?"
  32. ↑ The Tale of Old Fritz, Fallen London "You step close to one of the stones. A name, barely readable, is scrawled across it. Underneath it, curiously, is listed what their favourite vintage of wine was. [...] Memory, unwelcome, resurfaces the front page of the Gazette, a year old. [...] A ship returning to port sans its Captain. The crew professed that she'd offered herself to the zee. Under her name sit the words, 'Scintillating conversationist'."
  33. ↑ The Season of Explorations, Fallen London
  34. ↑ The Season of Explorations, Fallen London "They say there's a woman below the zee. [...] She wanted the city to be her palace. The Meridians bargained [...] She was to have a newborn boy from the [...] So long as he dwelt with her beneath the waves, the city would stand above. But, the boy grew into a curious child and one day —""
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